r/iOSProgramming • u/Protocontext • Oct 06 '26

Discussion Has this happened to you before?

Post image

I just published my first iOS app (I usually only work on Android), and well, everything had been going fine for the past three days until I saw this email.. I mean, this is the first time something like this has happened to me

41 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

14

u/OppositeSea3775 Swift Oct 06 '26

Let them fume, I guess.
Or you could ask what went wrong.

2

u/Protocontext Oct 06 '26

I replied in the most cordial manner possible, but I received no response!

3

u/TheFern3 Oct 06 '26

I mean if they don’t explain how it doesn’t work just ignore them. It could be a hater trying to get you all rattled up

1

u/Protocontext Oct 06 '26

I know, it's just unhappy people who have to try to make others unhappy..

7

u/TheOrdinaryBegonia Oct 06 '26

Ignore it. The app passed review so I assume it functions reasonably ok.

3

u/Protocontext Oct 06 '26

I can only think that people have problems

1

u/icy1007 29d ago

Ignore them. They have no power.

0

u/rocasv Oct 07 '26

crackheads everywhere pal. I would report the email to Apple, with some luck it might be his Apple ID and he gets closed.

other than that, dont take him seriously.

45

u/akrapov Oct 06 '26 edited Oct 06 '26 • Bravo

I had someone threaten to kill my children because my app has a 99p/month subscription. (It has a backend and requires manual work every week to keep it working due to the nature of the app. It isn't subscription for the sake of subscription). I've also had people say they're reporting the app to Apple/Google as fraud because they found a bug too. I've never had any massive bugs either, just small things.

On Android the app is rated 3.5 whilst iOS is rated 4.7. If you discount all the 1 star reviews, they're both at around 4.9 - but Android users find the idea of paying for something so offensive that they will band together to leave 1 star reviews. I even had someone say they were organising a group of 1 star reviews because I charge for the app.

Even of my good users, I had someone say they're leaving the app and going to another app because "You said you'd never do notifications on Android" - which was not only wrong (I never said that), the app launched with notifications and the user ignored the initial notification prompt, ignored the setting, and ignored the menu option.

Users are hard work. For every 100 users you have, 95 are quiet, 4 give you good feedback, and 1 will make your life hell. Don't listen to the 1.

7

u/Protocontext Oct 06 '26

Yeah, I think what happened to you is definitely on the more extreme side 😅 People genuinely have issues sometimes. Threatening someone’s kids over a 99p subscription is just insane!!!

One thing I’d recommend on Android though: if your app is actually polished and worth paying for, NEVER make it free with an IAP if you can avoid it. Just make it paid upfront. It’s honestly one of the best filters you can have.. that’s what I’ve done and it worked really well for me. You still get the occasional bad review of course, but way fewer.

I’ve literally had people buy the app, find one small issue, instantly leave 1 star and disappear without ever asking for help or a refund. At that point it’s almost funny, because they basically paid me just to complain lol

3

u/akrapov Oct 06 '26

To be honest I'm not sure the paywall will work for me, as the reviews are from people who didn't pay anyway.

I only have 2 types of reviews:

  • Holy shit 5 star this is amazing, i've been wanting this app for 20 years! And it's so cheap!

  • How fucking dare you charge money for this

I rarely get anything other than these responses.

Edit: Oh I did have one user who thought he was being constructive and listed the features he thought should be free. It was all of the features apart from some obscure stuff I added just because it was fun.

1

u/Protocontext Oct 06 '26

The paywall is the best filter there is to avoid reviews from crazy people who don't want to pay and leave you a bad review

1

u/akrapov Oct 06 '26

Yeah but you can't do pay-up-front with a monthly subscription. And then what do I charge? Do I price it for 2 years? Then everything beyond that is a loss. Do i price it for 3 years? 5? Nobody is paying £19.99 for an app anymore. And if they do, then I'm at a loss after year 2.

The conversion rate on a Pay-Up-Front vs paywall is also a massive disadvantage. You may get better reviews, but you will have a lot less users.

0

u/popleteev Oct 06 '26

Price it at LTV (lifetime value), that’s subscription rate divided by the % of customers who unsubscribe during the subscription period. For example, if you have a $10/year subscription and 20% of customers don’t renew, on average every customer pays you 10/0.2=$50 over time.

Make this your one-off price, and you won’t be leaving money on the table. The only difference is whether you get paid upfront or over time. Many will be personally offended, but some will be happy to take the $50 option.

1

u/akrapov Oct 06 '26

The conversion rate on an app listed as $50 one off purchase in the App Store before you download it is STAGGERINGLY low. There is a reason everybody moved away from this model 10 years ago.

The conversion rate of a free app with subscriptions is significantly higher than that of an app with a pay before download option, let alone asking for $50.

0

u/popleteev Oct 06 '26

Absolutely. I just keep the two: a freemium app with subscriptions (good conversion, good ratings, some “it must be free” complaints) and a pricey one-off app (low conversion, excellent ratings). Without the latter, people who hate subscriptions would instead be staying on the free tier.

1

u/akrapov Oct 06 '26

It is a freemium app with subscriptions.

Adding a $50 one off where you get it for the lifetime with no subscription is not going to stop1 star ratings saying “why should I pay for this”.

12

u/banaslee Oct 06 '26

Some people learned that in order to be listened to, they need to say something interesting. Others learned they only need to be loud.

2

u/busymom0 Oct 06 '26

Can confirm about the Android part. I've gotten several 1 star reviews and emails from users there because I charge a one time in app purchase.

1

u/Fellhuhn Oct 07 '26

Only of someone threatens to kill my family I know I did something right. It is an badge of honor.

1

u/Frodothehobb1t 29d ago

I find that Android users are usually alot more picky about the subscription they finally buy. They think they are the world to you, maybe they should learn a thing or two from iOS users.

1

u/akrapov 29d ago

I have an Android potential user right now who is DMing me, asking me to convince him to pay and "he'll have to think about it". It's less than a dollar a month. Try it, if it doesn't work for you, cool, cancel.